President Yahya Jammeh of Gambia, who sees himself as a god and has vowed he can cure AIDS in the former British colony in northwest Africa, said in a speech on state media Sunday, August 19, 2012:

“All those guilty of serious crimes and are condemned will face the full force of the law,” he said. “All punishments prescribed by law will be maintained in the country to ensure that criminals get what they deserve: that is, that those who kill are killed … By the middle of next month, all the death sentences would have been carried out to the letter.”

President Yahya Jammeh of Gambia

Jammah did not say what constitutes a “serious crime”.

Gambia surrounded by Senegal

In Gambia a serious crime includes possessing 250 grams of cocaine or heroin, as well as speaking against the plutocracy of Gambia’s elite and the authoritarianism of the rogue military that follows blindly the roar of its president. We do not know what crimes these prisoners committed making it impossible to judge the fitness of a death sentence.

As a liberal who supports the right of the pregnant woman who is carrying developing and unwanted fetal tissue to obtain a safe and therapeutic abortion, endorse and accept same-sex marriages, stand by the right of those who find live to difficult to bear and seek assisted suicide, etc., I also support the death penalty for those who commit murder, rape, pedophilia and severe injury to another including those who use torture. I write not only against the fundamental abuses of the nefarious Russian court system and the odious opportunism of Patriarch Kirill (who made $2 billion by selling cancer sticks to the citizens of Russia and then bought a fleet of expensive cars, yachts, a penthouse in Moscow and villa in Switzerland, a $35,000 watch, etc), nor the corruption rampant in the Ukraine led by its homophobic official church, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, but also about the pathetic premeditated and graphically filmed torture of Iraqis by USA and UK military who used guidelines for torture defined by John Yoo. Yoo pushed them gently on the easily manuevered George W. Bush who followed the bleating beckoning of Dick Cheney who saw profits for Halliburton while war raged. Cheney had the support of former Chevron Board Member Condoleezza Rice and Donald Rumsfeld who conveniently ignored what was happening at Abu Gharib prison.

Unfortunately the gaggle of goons clustered around George W. Bush, all of whom should be tried for crimes against humanity and executed, will never face trial nor execution as the world wrongly stands in awe of the USA. Under the Bush II Administration, the nation had become a morally and financially bankrupt and derelict nation that increased taxes on the middle class while giving tax breaks to the very rich. The Bush II Administration was tottering on a self-destructive course paid for by Edward and Charles Koch and their foundling Tea Party: a congregation of racists, women-haters such as Rush Limbaugh and Maggie Gallagher.

I reject the death penalty for any form of popular uprising (revolution [it is defined as a failure to overthrow a government, as a revolt is the successful coup d’état] when grievances are not answered nor rectified. Only the State of New Hampshire’s Constitution recognizes this basic right of its people (Article 10; it went into effect on June 2, 1784). Revolutions happened frequently around the world, with the USA not being immuned to riots, revolts, revolutions and human slaughter–as has been the fate of every other nation where despots rule and people have limited to no rights. Congress, under the control of money interests went after the unions, and workers were targeted for discrimination and death (Murray, Robert K. (1955), Red Scare: A Study in National Hysteria, 1919-1920 (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press; Stone, Geoffrey R (2004). Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime From the Sedition Act of 1798 to the War on Terrorism (New York, NY: W.W. Norton); Waldman, Louis (1920). Albany, The Crisis in Government: The History of the Suspension, Trial and Expulsion from the New York State Legislature in 1920 of the Five Socialist Assemblymen by their Political Opponents (New York, NY: Boni and Liveright).

Muhammad’s footprint

The question that must be asked is what crimes did these people commit to merit a death penalty. If it is for such absurdities as burning the Koran (it is only a book of paper and ink and glue) or depicting Muhammad in any graphic way (favorably or , etc–that is free speech that Gambia does not recognize [as Gambia is 90% Muslim: one of the most mind-destroying cults in the world] in keeping with the theocrats who guide Gambia. While portraying Muhammad in any way is forbidden, according to mullahs and ayatollahs, his portrait is found everywhere and goes back more than 1000 years ago to the first Koran written more than 100 years after his death, complete with nativity details.

Birth of Muhammad

What should be overthrown are the puppets of Islam as there is no single religion on this planet that has ever benefited anyone–it only has created zombies.

Matthew 27:52-53: “the graves were opened and many bodies of the dead rose…and walked into Jerusalem.”

Zombies are also found in the New Tesetament. They are the subject of Matthew 27:52-53: 52 καὶ τὰ μνημεῖα ἀνεῴχθησαν καὶ πολλὰ σώματα τῶν κεκοιμημένων ἁγίων ἠγέρθησαν, 53 καὶ ἐξελθόντες ἐκ τῶν μνημείων μετὰ τὴν ἔγερσιν αὐτοῦ εἰσῆλθον εἰς τὴν ἁγίαν πόλιν καὶ ἐνεφανίσθησαν πολλοῖς, Mark 12:18-27, 1 Cor 15:32, 50-53, and 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 [NIV]. Muslims read about Zombies in the Koran 18:18, 23-24 in the plagiarism of The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus an account that was originally told by Gregory of Tours in the sixth century and then “translated” into Byzantine Greek by Symeon Metaphrastes (tenth century CE) in his Lives of the Saints for the month of July (ref. on the Koran: Koch, John (1883). Die Siebenschlafereigende, ihr Ursprung u. ihre Verbreitung.Eine mythologisch-literaturgeschichtliche Studie. Leipzig, Germany, pp. 123-183; an exhaustive monograph with a full bibliography; I had made a mistake in dating, that was pointed out–for which I am grateful–by Fred Edwords).

Symeon Metaphrastes legend was taken from Aristotle (Physics, 4:11) and translated into Latin by Gregory of Tours. There were numerous other translations such as a Syriac version by James of Sarug (d. 521), that Jews read to the illiterate Muhammad who came to them “seeking enlightenment”. Its popularity led to a retranslation of the Syriac story into other Eastern languages. There is even an Anglo-Norman poem, Li set dormanz, written by Chardry; it also occurs again in Jacobus de Voragines’s “Golden Legend” (Legenda aurea) and in an Old-Norse fragment). It has always been used to stifle dissent.

All of these religions stole parts of or complete legends from far older religions, especially that of ancient Sumer (Sumerian), as we read in the epic Gilgamesh, where the vengeful god Ishtar demands of her father Anu:

Taurus is depicted in the astronomical treatise Book of Fixed Stars by the Persian astronomer Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi, c. 964.

Father, give me the Bull of Heaven

So he can kill Gilgamesh in his dwelling.

If you do not give me the Bull of Heaven,

I will knock down the Gates of the Netherworld,

I will smash the doorposts, and leave the doors flat down,

And will let t he dead go up to eat the living!

And the dead will outnumber the living.

(cf, The Epic of Gilgamesh. Trans. N. K. Sandars. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1985, pp. 85-88). The Bull of Heaven was Taurus (Unicode ♉) and was the prototype for the Apiru/Abiru cow-god Yah dating to 4000 BCE.

Zombies existed, it was believed, to first devour the body and then to return to capture the soul. Ancient theologies, such as those at Sumer, treated Zombies as saviours, and their actions as rituals, with the high priests (known as bishops) declaring “take this flesh and eat it, take this cup of blood and drink it … then go out two by two and teach the truth of being the living dead, minister to those who hunger for peace and eat their bodies so that they can have eternal life.” We find it later in Jewish tracts, and throughout the ancient world from Greece to Africa in separate writings about people who died, were buried, returned to life and came out of a tomb and were hailed as the living dead: Zombies.

In the ancient communities of christianos and chrestianos there were numerous cults that considered the Jesus of the New Testament to be a Zombie: he died, was buried, came back from the tomb and then disappeared (the ancient Egyptians referred to anyone who returned from death would be pulled into heaven, a concept that Constantine’s “catholic [universal] church concluded was an ascension. These same absurdities are supported by leaders who need a gullible and ignorant populace to enrich themselves (look at the Roman Catholic, Southern Baptist, Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox (especially the predatory Patriarch Kirill the guard dog for Russia’s dictator Vladimir Putin), Ukrainian Orthodox, Anglican, Pentecostal, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and similar churches) and fight to convert others to their faith.

Cannibalism has always been a part of the worship of the undead (Zombies), especially in Africa, Haiti, and other third world nations. In Gambia death sentences are known to be used as a tool against the political opposition, and the dictatorship of Yahya Jammeh encourages the most courageous to attempt to overthrow a coup installed President. The one great fear cowering most people in Gambia is that those who are to be executed will rise out of their burial place to haunt the living.

To halt any panic Jammeh has called on mullahs and other leaders of Islam to calm the people’s fear–which works for the 90% who are Muslim (most are Sunnis, but there are small pockets of Islam that include the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, which adheres to the teachings of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who they believe is the promised Messiah as prophesied by Muhammad; Tijani Muslims who are fewer in number, The Bai Faal (Sufi) Muslims, The Mourits (Serign TouBa) and many other sects). Islam entered Gambia after its missionaries converted the ruler who ordered his subjects also to convert–a practice that has always been widespread as with the missionary zeal and gold given to the leaders of Slavs by two Greek brothers: Sts Cyril (a name that became his after his death; there is no record of what his original name was, but during his travels he was known as Constantine (there exists the argument that Constantine took the name Cyril to create a bond with the Slavs–or at least their leaders (Cizevskij, Dmitrij [also spelled as: Tschižewskij, Dmitrij]; Zenkovsky, Serge A.; Porter, Richard E. (1971). Comparative History of Slavic Literatures. [Nashville, TN]: Vanderbilt University Press. pp. vi.); the Cyril was invented as a reward for creating the Cyrillic alphabet; cf. Hastings, Adrian (1997). The construction of nationhood: ethnicity, religion, and nationalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 126) and Methodius (Κύριλλος καὶ Μεθόδιος, but in the Slavonic language they are remembered together by their Slavonic names: Kѷриллъ и Меѳодїи). The brothers were fiercely anti-Semetic and published a flurry of papers decrying Judaism and arguing that it should be suppressed.

Cyril and Methodius urged that all “wrong believers” be severely punished. Those who would not accept Orthodoxy were to be suspect of plotting against the government: an act considered treason–that carried the death penalty.

The brothers popularity was the result of a campaign waged by the Slavic rulers to make them appear saintly. Since the Slavs had many gods and saints (holy people), there was little vocal objection to the missionaries being distinguished by the title of Holy. Accepting a title or preference for special status was not difficult. What was difficult was the conversion of Slavonia and other Slavic nations did not appear for generations as the gold the brothers carried into Slavic lands were given only to the leaders of the various tribes and states (Fletcher, R. A. (1999) . The barbarian conversion: from paganism to Christianity. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. p. 327).

Rulers in Gambia who embraced Islam came under fire by Gambian Jihadists such as Maba Diakhou Bâ (he was killed leading forces against the animist Serer state of Maad a Sinig Kumba Ndoffene Famak Joof; cp. Kélétigui S. Keita (1970). Maba Diakhou Ba dans le Rip et le Saloum (1861-1867), Dakar, Université de Dakar, Mémoire de Maîtrise) and Foday Kabba Dumbuya who castigated nominally Muslim rulers for their lax religious practices in their states and waged war until the rulers placed a more strict hand on local Muslims, forcing them into obedience. The remaining ten percent are primarily Roman Catholic, but there are some Methodists, Baptists and Traditional African animistic cults that have survived.

8 responses to “Zombies and religion”

Brilliant, as always! I enjoy your posts, and I learn something new from every one of them. I subscribe to very few blogs, but yours is worth the time spent reading, and thinking about it afterward. Thank you for another well-written and thought-provoking piece.

You state that the Symeon Metaphrastes version of the Seven Sleepers legend was “translated into Latin by Gregory of Tours.” But wasn’t Symeon Metaphrastes a Byzantine who lived in the 900s CE while Gregory of Tours lived earlier, in the 500s? So might not the Greek version have come from the Latin?

In any case, I was pleased to be exposed to this story, with which I hadn’t previously been familiar. I’ve now jumped in and read the versions of Gregory of Tours, the Quranic version, and the popular Medieval treatment in Jacobus de Voragine’s Golden Legend. Some like to find in it a source for Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle,” although Irving himself gave a German folkloric source as the inspiration for his story.

I’ll comment on my own comment here, as I’ve come across a little more since I posted it. There’s a paper by Pieter W. van der Horst, “Pious Long-Sleepers in Greek, Jewish, and Christian Antiquity,” at http://orion.mscc.huji.ac.il/symposiums/13th/papers/Horst.pdf . In this paper Horst argues for a Greek Christian version of the Seven Sleepers story–one that hasn’t survived–as the source used by the Syrian bishop Jacob of Sarug (c. 450-521). And it was from Jacob of Sarug that Gregory of Tours derived his version–though there are differences between the two. This missing Greek Christian version found its immediate source in a Christianized version of a Jewish story told in 4 Baruch. And that story might ultimately be traced back to the Greek versions found in Diogenes Laertius, Pausanias, and Aristotle. Or so Horst argues.

Gregory of Tours was born 538 or 539 at Arverni, the modern Clermont-Ferrand; died at Tours, 17 Nov., in 593 or 594; he did coin the story in Latin. Symeon Metaphrastes has conflicting dates (dates ranging from the 9th century to the 14th century) but his writings first appeared in the second half of the 10th century. He did copy into Byzantine Greek the writings of Gregory as found in his direct plagiarism of words (although he gives no attribution that was common in his day and not condemned by the various churches). Thank you for your note, as inadvertently, I did misplace the sequence in the article. I will correct this error.

A zygote, embryo, or fetus is not a living person–it is evolving cells. Until their is synopsis of the cortex there is not even the semblance of life. The judgment at Nuremberg, headed by an American jurist, declared that the death sentence was to be imposed on those who initiated wrongful war and participated in that wrongful war as there is no excuse of “just following orders”–thus, if Hitler had lived, he would have been hanged along with the male and female NAZI soldier and sympathizers. Bush entered into war based on a lie by an Iraqi living in England; without investigating thoroughly, Bush wrongfully condemned US military into a losing battle, and some, like Lyndie England committed crimes against humanity at Abu Gharib prison–so she and Bush and all others, including Tony Blair, must pay the supreme price for their actions.

The Sovereign Citizen movement is without laws and yet use the court system to bring frivolous lawsuits. They shoot police without provocation, and act basically as do the neo-NAZIs in East Germany. The Sovereign Citizens are hardly the same as citizens who call for judgement on Bush, Rice, Cheney, and others who profit from violence and war in Iraq and Afghanistan. I do not take the law into my own hands, and will not end the unmerited livesof Bush, Cheney, Rice, et al., as that is the responsibility of the World Court–a court that the USA has never recognized and continues to kill people without trial. Your knowledge of law and history is so blantantly poor, I normally would ignore your rant, but hopefully you will read the book “Judgment at Nuremberg” and others, then consult with an international law attorney on what is justice to the rest of the world. Under Bush there was no law as seen in the papers of UC Berkeley law professor John Yoo who declared that the USA had the right to torture in the same manner as the Spanish Inquisition: from Water Torture to breaking limbs. John Yoo, by international law, as the author of the torture papers, deserves the death penalty. Try reading law; I am sure you will find it interesting. I stand beside all that I have written.

You are correct in many case, but you mislead and lie about the reasons. I do support abortion on demand as no one other than the woman carrying unwanted evolving fetal tissue has the right to make the decision as to keeping the matter or aborting it: an embryo, zygote or fetus is not a baby.

I do support assisted suicide–not involuntarily ending of a life as that is murder. It is my goal to determine the time, place, etc. for my own exit from life as then the energy in my body that is known as life will merge in with universal energy as my corpse decays and returns “to dust” to quote the quaint bible.

I do suppor the execution of George W. Bush for crimes against humanity: Abu Gharib prison that is on par with any concentration camp under Hitler, for sending troops wrongfully into Iraq when the World Trade Center disaster was planned and carried out by Saudis, etc. While I think GW Bush was the worse president in USA history (and I am an American), I charge him with failure as a president and his overlooking of the consequences of a war based on a lie about nonexistent Weapons of Mass Destrution (WMDs) that was pushed by Condoleeza Rice, Dick Cheney, etc. after “Curveball” (an Iraqi exile, CIA operative) created it because of his personal distain for Saddam Hussein who was installed over the Iraqi king.

As for Sovereign Citizen (a group that I have written a great deal concerning) is a lawless group–and I stand behind the law: a law that says every person must have his or her day in court to answer charges and then to have a jury (judge in South America, etc) decide guilt or innocence. Sovereign Citizen is a group of fanatics that twist the law and make decisions unilaterally as judge, jury, and executioner. Concerning your reference to George W. Bush, I wrote that he must be take to the World Court and tried for crimes against humanity, judged, and if found guilty, suffer the supreme penalty–as should his entire gaggle of advisors (Condi Rice, Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc).

Your comment about me arguing for “taking the law into one’s ownhands is only when you disagree with [him/her/them]” is without foundation. I have never made such a comment, nor argue for such an absurd direction. I support laws, as did Socrates who drank the hemlock on order from the Athenian Senate, while they exist, but in the USA we have a ballot box to change those who make wrong laws. Laws must change to fit the time and clime–not like the Vatican that becomes increasingly oppressive so that Carlo Maria Martini cardinal of Milan expressed that “the Church is 200 years backward in time”. So, too, it is with the Tea Party (owned by the Koch Brothers) who want (as Rick Perry of Texas stated) the rescindation of the 14th and 17th amendments so as to put the US Congress back into the hands of states and then to corporations (as in the SCOTUS ruling “Citizens United vs. FEC”). I oppose Sovereign Citizen, KKK, America’s Naszi, and others who would take it upon themselves (singularly and collectively) to determine the fate of the nation–as happened with Bissonnette who has endangered the lives of all his commrades. What Bissonnette did was against international and national law, and I am not the only person to label him a traitor to the USA but to all laws and mortalkind. Thank you for your comments.